Baxter, John

Baxter, John one of the first Wesleyan missionaries, was a native of England, a local preacher, and an employd in the Royal Dock Establishments at Chatham, Kent. In 1779 he went to the island of Antigua, W. I., where he was invested with a lucrative government office. Renouncing this in 1785 (Myles says 1786), he became a missionary among the slaves of the islands. Next to Nathaniel Gilbert, he may be considered the founder of Methodist missions in the West Indies. "He was greatly beloved by the negroes, and loved them in an equal degree; and went to glory (1806) from among them in the triumph of faith." See Myles, Chronicles Hist. of the Methodists, p. 173; Smith, Hist. of Wesl. Methodism (see Index, vol. 3); Stevens, Hist. of Methodism, 3, 208.